


Reverb Rising

by MoonlightShines (Thatkillervibe)



Series: Killervibe Week 2018 [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Day 1 role reversal, F/M, Gen, Role Reversal, Season 3, Thanksgiving, killervibefanficweek18, reverb, the flash au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 00:28:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14965142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatkillervibe/pseuds/MoonlightShines
Summary: Caitlin may be the one with ice powers, but it was Cisco turning isolated and cold.  Threatening. He no longer listened to reason. It was like any light, any positivity, pointed in his direction was consumed by his dark matter DNA, and bounced back off him distorted and amplified.Like a reverb.





	Reverb Rising

**Author's Note:**

> ~To explain a little… This is a role reversal AU set in Season 3. In order to cater to this some gender swaps were made. Most importantly, Caitlin and Cisco’s power struggles are switched. There is no Killer Frost on Earth 1. Caitlin goes by just Frost and she is perfectly in control. Cisco however…Every traumatic event to have happened to Caitlin in canon has now happened to Cisco… resulting in Cisco’s meta powers only emerging after Flashpoint in the same manner as did in canon Caitlin. Enjoy!!~

 

Truth be told, Caitlin was concerned for her best friend.

She has been for a while now.

She stood back, bearing witness during the last five years as Cisco’s life began to derail. It’s been a long time since Cynthia’s death in the particle accelerator explosion and its aftermath, which Caitlin used to be convinced was Cisco’s lowest of lows. But that was before Barry, before the  discovery of the G.Y.P.S.Y. matrix, finding out that Cynthia was alive after all, only for her to perish again. It was before Earth 2, and Helen Solomon’s elaborate honey trap on Cisco to perpetuate her psychopathic speedster will. It was before Flashpoint and Dante’s death and the emergence of… _Well_.

Caitlin may be the one with ice powers, but it was Cisco turning isolated and cold.  Threatening. He no longer listened to reason. It was like any light, any positivity, pointed in his direction was consumed by his dark matter DNA, and bounced back off him distorted and amplified.

Like a reverb.

Caitlin took her seat next to Cisco’s at the Ramon thanksgiving table.   
  
“Thank you for letting me invite myself to your family’s celebration,” Caitlin told him again, “I’m not catholic but I can’t deny that the food smells heavenly.”

Cisco shrugged, looking downwards at his half chipped black painted nails.

“Hey,” Caitlin said softly, touching his knee under the table. “What’s going on?” 

Cisco glanced up at her. He looked exhausted, and completely unlike himself. His hair was frizzy, and the dark smudges of eyeliner were not completely washed off from under his eyes. He was wearing a crisp clean button up shirt, but it was hidden under the leather jacket engulfing his frame.

It scared her. How her sunny, enthusiastic Cisco seemed to be disappearing before her very eyes. How he looked and acted more like _him_ with every passing day.

“You didn’t have to come,” Cisco whispered. “I don’t know why you did.”

“Nonsense, I love it here. I love your family.”

“Good,” Cisco snapped. “You can have them. They won’t want anything to do with  me after tonight.”

Caitlin took hold of Cisco’s trembling fingers. “What are you talking about?” 

“I’m going to tell them about Reverb.”

Caitlin’s mouth dropped, surprised. “Oh.” 

“I have to. He’s taking over, soon there won’t be any Cisco left. If their son is going to turn into an egomaniacal gothic super villain because of his new split evil meta personality they at least deserve to hear it from me first!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Caitlin had to suppress the urge to smile. No matter how much Reverb was fighting to gain control, that rant was proof that Cisco was still in there somewhere.

“They won’t abandon you, Cisco. You’re all they have left. They love you.”

“You don’t think I know that?” Cisco replied through clenched teeth. “They suffered enough. I can’t risk hurting them. You know what Barry said about what he saw in the future. I turn into Reverb and I don’t come back. It’s already happening. You don’t think I see you looking at me, afraid? I’m waking up more frequently with no memories but evidence that I’ve been somewhere I shouldn’t be. It’s my fate. And if that means jeopardizing the safety of my already broken family… of hurting  _you_ , then I have to go. I’m leaving Central City.”

Caitlin went numb. “What?”

Cisco’s shoulders slumped over. “It’s the only way.”

“No, it’s not,” Caitlin swore. “Your power dampening cuffs, the anti-vibe goggles, I’ll help Harry enhance them until I can develop that serum I told you about.”

Cisco shook his head, defeated. “And what if I stay and it’s too late? I go Reverb permanently and we’re one step closer to Iris’s death.”

Cisco’s mother returned to the dining room with a platter of mashed potatoes. “Ah, Caitlin! Mijo is so glad you could come. Maybe you can come help me with the yams?” Mrs. Ramon gave Caitlin a very pointed stare.

“Yes, I’d love to,” Caitlin agreed politely, getting the hint. She pushed back her chair and stood to follow Cisco’s mother out of the dining room after giving his hand one more reassuring squeeze. “We’re not done this talk,” she told him.

“Caitlin can’t cook,” Cisco said flatly to his mother.

“Right,” Caitlin said, “Which is why I’m game to learn tricks of the trade from the best.”

Mrs. Ramon laughed. “Francisco, remind me why you aren’t with Miss Snow again? She’s lovely.”

Cisco’s back goes rigid at his full name. It’s what Reverb likes to be called.

“We’re just friends mom,” he told her. He watched as his mother handed Caitlin an apron as they both conspired several feet away. His father too, being scolded for sticking a finger into the gravy browning simmering in the pot.

“Barely that, even.” He muttered to himself.

Soon they wouldn’t even be on speaking terms at all.

He turned inwardly on himself, feeling the pit of his stomach quell with  unsolicited anger. His vision began to ebb away with the tell tale signs of an incoming vibe and Cisco closed his eyes forcefully, willing himself not to turn into Reverb. Not now. Not on Thanksgiving. Not in front of his grieving mother.

  
But evil personalities do not adhere to holiday pleas, and Cisco toppled into a vibe regardless.

Cisco opened his eyes, disoriented. It was Thanksgiving and there was his mother busying  over the turkey as Caitlin mixed together a salad bowl in one of his mother’s aprons,  just like the reality he left.  

Except Caitlin was wearing hearing aids and there was no place for him at the table.

He walks into the living room where the television had his face plastered on the screen accompanied with the latest news bulletins.

**…REVERB AT LARGE AFTER BREAKING OUT OF JAIL. REVERB IS BEST KNOWN FOR INJURING SUPERHERO FROST AND BEING AN ACCOMPLICE TO THE EVIL SPEEDSTER NICKNAMED SAVITAR. SAVITAR  MURDERED CCTV JOURNALIST, DAUGHTER OF DETECTIVE JOE WEST OF CCPD,  IRIS WEST, IN MAY 2017….**

Cisco’s mother marches into the room. “Turn that off,” She snaps.

Cisco jumps, afraid. He’s never been seen during one of his vibes before, and he begins to stammer before he notices his mother wasn’t addressing him, but his father, who was sitting in the armrest all this time.

“He better not come here,” his father said.

“Why should he?” His mother scoffed, “That’s not my son. My children are dead.”

Cisco turns to Caitlin, who lowered her head. “I saw him yesterday,” she admitted softly, her voice accented toneless. “Don’t worry. I made it clear he’s never to return.”

 

Cisco gasped, blinking back to reality, his trance gone unnoticed. He may have lost control for a moment but Reverb did not appear and for that he was impossibly thankful.

Caitlin returned to his side, depositing the bowl of yams and three serving spoons.

“I promise, I’ll be with you every step of the way.”  

He tried to smile at her weakly, but he could not ignore the voice in his mind, how his insides burned with betrayal. Perhaps he spoke too soon about his evil half making an appearance.

“Cisco?” Caitlin hedged.

He sneered at her just as his mother brought in the turkey and announced it was time to eat. His father took his seat at the head of the table and said, “Why don’t we go around and say what we’re thankful for?”

“I have nothing,” Cisco said, eyes going steely, accent thickening into Reverb’s slow hispanic drawl.  

His parents shared a worried glance and Caitlin tried not to panic.

She realized it’s not the future that’s dictating Cisco’s life. It’s him. He’s  giving  up. He doesn’t want to stay and fight.

How dare he think he’s in this alone.

Caitlin vowed in that moment she’s going to dedicate every minute to doing whatever it takes to get Cisco back.

She’s not going to let him go.

Caitlin cleared her throat, “May I?”

“Certainly,” Cisco’s father said, attempting to end the stunned silence.

Caitlin grabbed Reverb’s hand, who eyed it like it were poison. “I am thankful for you, Cisco.”

Reverb scoffed.

“Remember that time, when we were helping Barry with that crazy insect lady and her crazy robot bees? What was it you said…”

Reverb’s eyes went lighter. “I don’t do bees, Ain’t nobody got time for bees!” They both recited at the same time.

Caitlin let out a breath of relief.

“I think about all of the memories I cherish most Cisco, and you’re in every single one of them.”

Caitlin watched as Reverb slowly melted away.

“That was touching Caitlin,” Mrs. Ramon said.

“It’s true.”

Cisco sniffled, shrugging off the leather jacket and rubbed at his wet eyes as his mother went next.

“Thank you,” he mouthed at her, and all she could do was smile in reply.

                                                     ~.~

 

Caitlin looks back behind the oak trees of Central City’s cemetery and does a double take at the figure lurking in the shade.

It could only be one person.

She brushed two fingers along HR’s headstone before nodding her head at him to Barry, making their way down the grassy path.

There stood their best friend. The person she loved the most in the world, looking different from any time she’s ever seen him.

His hair is back down, and his leather jacket is gone. His vibe goggles were also missing, replaced with dark sunglasses.

But when he removes them his eyes were lined with dark charcoal. Heavy. Burdened. Sad.

He held the serum in his hand. He offered it to her silently.

She felt her heart drop down to HR's coffin, as she took it back.

“Hi,” She said, hesitantly.

“Hi,” He responded.

He dared not look at her face.

“Are you okay? Your ears?”

“I’m fine. You didn't hurt me. I knew you never would.”

He exhaled slowly.

“I’m sorry about HR.”

“Why did you come?” Barry asked him.

“I don’t know.”

“Maybe you wanted to come home?” Caitlin ventured.

“I don’t have a home.”

“Yes, you do,” Caitlin insisted, her voice thick with tears. “With us. With _me_. We love you. _I_ love you. Please Cisco, we can make it work.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not Cisco anymore.”

“But you’re not Reverb,” Barry stated.

“No, I’m not.” Cisco made move to walk away.

Caitlin stumbled forward, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Wait—“ She begged.

He gave her a long, pleading look. “Caitlin… Let me go.


End file.
